legislation

US government effort to regulate Big Tech stalls

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App Store faces barrage of antitrust charges
Support is lagging for a centerpiece of U.S. government efforts to regulate Big Tech.
Photo: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels CC

A bill aimed at regulating Big Tech is reportedly losing support in the U.S. Senate. The fate of the American Choice and Innovation Online Act is now in question.

It is a Democratic proposal but some Senate Democrats are leery about voting for it in an election year.

Proposed law would force profound changes on Apple App Store

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Proposed law would force profound changes on Apple App Store
Lawmakers might require Apple to completely change the App Store.
Photo: Thuan Vo/Pexels

A trio of U.S. Senators introduced a bill that would force Apple to allow sideloading of applications and alternative iOS app stores. Other modifications to Apple’s and Google’s business models would be required as well.

Whether the proposed Open App Markets Act will pass is anyone’s guess. So far, Big Tech has always talked lawmakers out of passing legislation that would put significant restrictions on it. But if this bill becomes a law, the App Store will never be the same again.

Proposed legislation might force Apple to sell App Store

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App Store
The App Store might have to become a separate company from Apple.
Photo: James Yarema/Unsplash CC

A bipartisan bill expected to be proposed in the U.S. congress would, if passed, have an enormous effect on Big Tech. The legislation, reportedly called the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, might force Apple to make the App Store a completely separate business not under its control.

Apple lobbyist helps push back Right to Repair vote in California

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Cult of Mac's buyback program pays good money for your gear, even broken ones.
Laws will be pushed back to 2020 at least.
Photo: Warren R.M. Stuart/Flickr CC

Right to Repair legislation in Apple’s home state of California has been successfully pushed back to at least January 2020. After intervention by an Apple lobbyist, the co-sponsor of the bill pulled it from committee on Tuesday.

“While this was not an easy decision, it became clear that the bill would not have the support it needed today, and manufacturers had sown enough doubt with vague and unbacked claims of privacy and security concerns,” said California Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman.

Proposed U.K. laws could crack down on ‘harmful’ apps

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Apple removes 17 malware apps which secretly clicked on ads
Censorship or common sense? Expect to see this issue heavily debated.
Photo: Apple

Apple could be among the companies having to censor certain apps and websites as a result of new proposed U.K. laws. Designed to combat “harmful” content online, the new laws would give censorship power to independent regulators tasked with overseeing apps and websites.

The view of “harmful” content is a broad one, including terrorism, self-harm, hate speech, child abuse, and more. It would mean that the U.K. government could have a say on the content that Apple sells or offers to customers in the United Kingdom.

Proposed privacy legislation outlaws some Google business practices

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Apple takes privacy seriously
A statement on Apple’s stance toward privacy is baked into iOS.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) published a draft privacy bill this morning that proposes making it harder for companies to track people’s location or collect biometric information about them. 

Apple is a top donor to the CDT, and the company has taken a strong stance on protecting user’s privacy.

Apple wants US to overhaul privacy laws

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Apple takes privacy seriously
Any future privacy legislation will likely have little effect on Apple as it already bends over backward to avoid collecting user information.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

A high-level Apple executive will tell the the U.S. senate tomorrow that the iPhone maker is in favor of federal privacy regulations.

He’ll be testifying along with representatives of Google and other companies likely to argue against privacy laws.

Tim Cook teams up with Charles Koch to fight for dreamers

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Tim Cook
Cook and Koch aren't usually homies.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch are usually on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but the two business titans are coming together to support a common cause: The Dreamers.

In a rare opinion piece authored by Cook and Koch, the two implore Congress to act now so that this holiday season isn’t the last one in the United States for 690,000 of our neighbors.

Legislators closer to forcing Apple to help unlock iPhones

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google-facebook-and-others-following-apples-lead-on-encryption-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201601iPhone-6s-Live-Photos-jpg
Anti-encryption bill has received mixed reactions.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

A bill that would force companies to help law enforcers decrypt private communication is one step closer to becoming a reality, after a draft was published this week.

Called the Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016, the bill would stop companies including Apple refusing to help organizations like the FBI, provided that proper court orders are given.

And — no surprises here! — it’s already proving controversial.

Florida congressman floats stupid, anti-Apple bill

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United States Capitol by Jens Junge
All the major tech companies are under investigation.
Photo: Jens June/Pixabay

Government officials seem to be in some kind of race to see which of them can be the most indignant and/or outraged at Apple’s refusal to create security-bypassing software for its devices. And we’re pretty sure Rep. David Jolly has just won.

Jolly, who represents Florida’s 13th District, submitted a bill Wednesday that would make it illegal for any federal office to own or lease Apple products until Cupertino gives in to the FBI’s demands. And he did so because state-sponsored blacklisting of organizations that legally disagree with the government is exactly how free countries work.

Senate wiretapping debate comes to an end

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wiretapping debate
The U.S. Senate is hashing out the USA Freedom Act, which concerns government wiretapping.
Screencap: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

The U.S. Senate has taken one step closer to a final vote on changing the government’s controversial program to freely tap and monitor citizens’ phones.

Senators voted 83-14 to end debate on the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection and Online Monitoring” (USA Freedom) Act. The bill will extend lapsed provisions of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act and aims to add transparency to the NSA’s activities surrounding wiretapping and data collection.

A final vote could happen as early as this afternoon.

French Minister Slams Apple For Dumping AppGratis

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French startup, French minister. Hmmm.
French startup, meed angry French minister.

Apparently, junior minister for digital economy Fluer Pellerin thinks that Apple shouldn’t have rejected AppGratis from the App Store last week. Her remarks to the French media make it clear that she feels the tech company isn’t behaving ethically in its dealings with AppGratis, a French startup, or others like it, calling the move “an issue of fairness,” and “extremely brutal.”

Not only that, but Pellerin feels that European regulators might want to think about taking action against Apple for the rejection.

U.S. Senator Proposes Bill To Make Cellphone Unlocking Legal Again

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illegal iPhone unlock

As of January 26th, it is now illegal for you to unlock your smartphone if you want to use it on another network. Carrier unlocking has been legal in the U.S. for years, but in October the Library of Congress ruled that unauthorized unlocking is a crime.

The Obama Administration has already voiced its opinion that citizens should be allowed to unlock their smartphones without risking criminal penalties, and a senator from Oregon just introduced a bill that would making unlocking legal again.

U.S. Authorities Can Access Non-Citizen iCloud Data Without A Warrant [Updated]

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iCloud
What could this mean for your data?
Photo: Apple

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the U.S. government open access to electronic information stored by non-US citizens on US-based servers, like a host of cloud services available today. iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and other popular services are all subject to this law, passed in 2008 by the Bush administration and recently re-authorized by the Obama administration for another 5 years.

What this means is that any data stored by non-American citizens on cloud servers here in the US is able to be looked at in entirety by various agencies in the US federal government, including the NSA, FBI, and CIA.